Dick Poole

Coaching Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Herbert Richard Poole
Nickname(s)
Dick
Born
Thursday, 27th November, 1930
Current Age
93 years and 123 days
Place Of Birth
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

Biography

Flying Earlwood centre came into Newtown's first grade in 1950 as an 18-year-old but was given time to mature by the club after a tough first grade initiation in his debut season. Poole represented his state in 1954 and was five-eighth for NSW against Great Britain in the infamous match that was abandoned by referee Aub Oxford because of constant fighting. A non-playing reserve in the Third Test against the Lions that year, Poole made his Test debut in controversial circumstances against France in 1955. As the players were preparing to take the field, selectors told him that he was to replace Darcy Henry, whom they suspected was carrying a back injury into the deciding Test. At club level, Newtown finished runners-up to Souths in consecutive grand finals in 1954-55, the latter year with Poole as captain-coach. Poole captained NSW against Queensland and NZ in 1956 before playing in the centres in the Trans Tasman series. He then toured with the Kangaroos and played in all six Tests in England and France. Poole's greatest moment came as captain-coach of Australia's World Cup victory in 1957. Under Poole’s leadership Australia was undefeated in the four-nation competition, held in Sydney and Brisbane to mark the 50th season of rugby league in this country, and was awarded the title without the playing of a final. But the following year an injury to his achilles tendon effectively ended his representative career. A player-coach with Newtown in 1955-58 he left the club to captain Wests in 1959-60. Poole was forced to retire as a player midway through the 1961 season due to recurring asthma. After a stint as coach of the University Club in the NSWRL Second Division competition (1963) he returned to coach the ‘Blue Bags’ from 1966-68.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Coaching Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   Games W L D Win %  
NRL 140 65 71 4 46.43% List
NRL Finals 3 1 2 0 33.33% List
World Cup 3 3 0 0 100.00% List
Craven Mild Cup 14 6 7 1 42.86% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years Games W L D Win %  
Australia 1957 3 3 0 0 100.00% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years Games W L D Win %  
Australia 1957 3 3 0 0 100.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season Games W L D Win %  
Newtown NSWRFL 1955 20 15 4 1 75.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1956 19 11 8 0 57.89% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1957 18 9 9 0 50.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1958 19 10 9 0 52.63% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1966 20 11 9 0 55.00% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1967 22 7 13 2 31.82% List
Newtown NSWRFL 1968 22 2 19 1 9.09% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years Games W L D Win %  
Newtown 1955-58, 1966-68 140 65 71 4 46.43% List

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Contributions: Paul Carter, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Greg Fiveash, Gary Neale, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, Bill Bates